An Unknown Niece's Search
by Fesd5
Summary: Tramp is in love with Lady and they have their children. However, one day his niece, Casey, learns of him and sets in search of her only family left. She meets Buster, an old enemy of Tramp, and pairs up with him without knowing his full intentions. Will Buster kick his plan into action, or will he give into his strongest feelings?


**Chapter 1 – A Strong And Natural Friendship**

Casey lay on the uncomfortable wooden floor beneath the train station shelter, listening to the rain battering against the trash lying on the train tracks. Her long grey nose rested on her delicate but scruffy grey paws, her icy blue eyes open wide despite barely receiving any rest. She had heard from her messy, ill mother that Casey's uncle was the famous Tramp. Her mother had been telling her many things about him and Casey had then gone out to play. Not long after, their friend – the pet dog from down the street – had come to her and broken the news. Casey's mum was dead.

The young pup was identical to her mother, with the same folded ears and beautiful eyes that seemed out of place on the scruffy and messy body Casey owned. Tramp was foretold to be just as messy as she was, and Casey figured that was natural, since he was her mum's brother.

That had been three years back and at that moment Casey was on the brink of giving up. Over the years Casey's over-sized paws had become less clumsy, and her useless puppy fat had thawed away to give her a lean shape. Her Tail, unlike the Tramp's stumpy thing, was long and trailed after her neatly. Her eyes were sapphire blue and her chest and belly were only a shade lighter than the rest of her.

"Boy do I know how to track a dog," Casey muttered as she pushed herself to her paws and stretched. The puddles were pooling but Casey could still use her nose. Her nose was a famous tracking device; it was only that all the trails Tramp had left behind were stale and fading. "Here we go again."

Her nose pressed to the wood and instantly she caught the strong scent of train, accompanied by the scent of cheese and bacon. Casey's head shot up, but then she shook it to dislodge the thoughts and turned back to tracking, her ears pinned with concentration. Finally, she caught another fading scent similar to her mum's which was stronger than the others. She tracked it, leaping off the platform and landing with a splash in her puddle. She barely noticed the water clinging around her mouth and turning it a filthy shade of brown.

Casey's nose led her through the puddles, her paws splashing up water and her tail wagging as the clouds moved and basked her in the moon's light. Absentmindedly she lifted her head, closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax as her mum stared down at her, smiling as she sat on the moon and howled.

The howl which pounded in Casey's ears was so much like her mum's that she listened for a moment, imagining her mum sprinting towards her, galloping through the puddles and licking her daughter's ears. Then, Casey's memory of her mother's body lying lifelessly on the broken bed flashed in her mind and she frowned. It was impossible that the howl could sound so…real. It was _too_ real. Looking around, her ears twitching nervously, she caught the sound and raced forward, catching the masculine tone which shattered Casey's hopes.

"Mum is dead," she whispered. "Mum is dead, but maybe Uncle is alive."

She tracked the sound down three streets until she shot down an alley and reached a fence with a large bin in front. The howling stopped, but Casey was certain that she had heard it coming from the direction she had been heading in. Panting heavily, she scrambled up onto the lid of the bin and pounced before it fell. She scratched at the fence, still on the side she had come from, her chin caught on the curves. Her back legs out at nothing and her paws scratched uselessly.

"Need any help?" an angry voice growled.

"No thanks," Casey mumbled as she stretched her front legs over the fence and dug her claws in.

There was a pause, and then the voice softened. "Beg your pardon, ma'am, I thought you were someone else."

"Oh, sorry," Casey woofed as she found herself hanging over the fence on her belly. "My name's Casey."

"I'm Buster," the dog barked, pushing her over.

"Oomph!" Casey grunted as she landed on the other side. Buster leapt over easily and stood in front of her. She pulled herself to her paws in front of the Dobermann and found he was much larger than her. "I'm searching for my uncle."

"Who is he?" Buster asked, helping her.

"Tramp," Casey replied. "He's the only family I have left."

"Oh, poor thing," Buster sighed, throwing a paw around her and pulling her into a hug, patting her head with his other paw. "I feel your pain, Miss Casey, I really do."

"What do you mean?" Casey demanded, pushing herself away from him.

"Having Tramp as your only family left must be awful! Especially ever since he turned down his freedom for a house dog," Buster declared.

"What do you mean?" Casey asked warily.

"But a few years ago he married her and had puppies. I made friends with his only son, Scamp, but…" Buster moaned like he as wounded, "he and my friends abandoned me!"

"That's awful!" Casey gasped. "But, err… I need to speak with him, give him the news. Do you know where he lives?"

"Why of course!" Buster cried, turning and pointing to the fence and then frowning. He turned his back on the fence and stared at the exit. He pointed to the right, and then to the left, and sighed. "I'm afraid I've forgotten where he…lives."

"Oh," Casey sighed. "I guess I'll just have to keep looking."

"Maybe I'll help you," Buster offered. For a moment, Casey saw greed and anger flicker across Buster's eyes before he smiled again. "Let's go."

Reluctantly, Casey scrambled through the small gap between a large mattress and several cardboard boxes. Buster leapt onto the mattress and yelped when he was thrown over Casey's head into the boxes. The boxes fell and Buster grunted as he was hit on the head by a book. Casey was barking her laughter as Buster stood stiffly, the book open on his head, and shook himself. The book fell onto the floor and closed and Casey gasped when she read the human script.

"An address book!" Casey cried, leaping at it and leafing desperately through it. "Do they have a house name?"

Buster frowned. "I said I don't know where he lives."

Casey chuckled. "No, I mean what are their owners called?"

"Oh, err… Darters?" Buster twisted his face as he thought. "Darners? Darlings? Oh I can't remember!"

"Hmm…" Casey was staring at the names. "There's a… There's a Darters family. Number twelve. Let's go!"

Casey shot past him and down the lane, searching desperately for number twelve. Buster joined her steadily and when he arrived at her side, Casey darted down the street one way. Grudgingly, Buster loped after her, his eyes scanning the houses lazily.

"Here! Here!" Casey yipped. Buster joined her.

She had stopped in front of a grand mansion with a fine front lawn, the walls coated in roses. The path led up to a blue door, set into a beautiful white house with a red slated roof and long, wide windows. Hesitantly, Casey stepped up and pushed the iron gate open with her nose. Buster drew his lips back over his clenched teeth and growled deeply as he crept forward, following Casey protectively. Casey barely seemed not notice him as she hopped up the two steps to the door and balled up her paw, tapping like a human would.

The door swung inwards and Casey stared as the woman, with her balled up grey hair, hard face and stone-grey eyes, glared down at her in fury. She kicked out and Casey yelped as she sailed across the garden.

"I won't have strays in this house, no sir-_ee_!" she yelled, throwing a broom at Buster. Buster let it clatter at his paws, now calm and upright, before dropping into a threatening crouch, lips peeling back over his shiny, slobbering teeth. "By God! What a monster!"

She bolted the door shut and Buster paused, twitching his ears as he listened to the woman leaning against the door, panting with shock. Then, his eyes fell on the window on the ground floor, half of it standing open slightly. Casey was still lying in a mess against the wall, blood pooling by her head, groaning in pain as she tried to move. Buster barked softly to tell her to relax before pouncing through the window.

As Buster crept through the cosy living room, the fire glowing warmly and comfortingly, he mused over the fact that he felt protect of his companion. At first he had merely intended to use her, to get her to help him into Tramp's home and spring his trap. However, now he found he could not just let her lie there not because of his fear for his plan, but his fear for people taking advantage of her. Ever since he had seen her he had enjoyed being with her and for some reason he had felt a connection between them, something he was not used to.

Pausing in the doorway, Buster peered round the frame to see the woman, her hand on the doorknob and her weight pressing securely against the door. She was still wheezing with shock.

The woman was named Ms Fanny and she hated dogs and cats. She believed if you kicked them hard enough they would flee. However, the minute she had harmed the female dog and threatened the male dog, the Dobermann had become protective. She wondered if they were mates, for she knew that you must never threaten a male dog's mate. They would stop at nothing to have revenge. Ms Fanny quivered with fear.

If Buster had known what the woman was thinking, he might have stopped and wondered too, pondered on the thought that made he was protective of Casey because he loved her. But, sadly, Buster knew nothing of Ms Fanny's thoughts and skulked into the middle of the hall before howling, throwing back his head to announce the charge.

"By God! Help me!" Ms Fanny yelled.

Buster was about to move forward again when a flash of grey knocked him across the hall and into the music room where he slammed into a piano. He snarled, expecting to see Tramp lying sprawled across him, only to find it was Casey. Blood was staining her fur just in front of the ear and her tail was crooked. Ms Fanny hurried in and saw Casey and immediately thought it was Tramp, come from the Dears' household when he'd heard the howl. She knew she must take the dog back to the Dears and hardly noticed the longer tail or lack of collar. She scooped up Casey and scurried out of the room before Buster could get to his feet. This time, Ms Fanny locked the living room window and then locked the main door, leaving Buster trapped inside. He howled again, mournfully, whilst Ms Fanny carried Casey towards the house at the end of the street.


End file.
